Knitting machine



March 7, 1939. w. H, LASCH KNITTING MACHINE Filed July 11, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR J/t Z'ZZ Hermann Lassie. BY W TTORNEYS.

March 7, 1939. w H LASCH 2,150,100

KNITTING MACHINE Filed July 11, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 mum INVENTOR:

- J I/Z'ZZ Herma2m Lasch,

r TTORNEYS.

March 7, 1939. w, H, LASCH 2,150,100

KNITTING MACHINE Filed July 11, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 V B Y 70%; (4. ai /(406% 1. A TTORNEYS.

. Patented Mar. 7, 1939 KNITTING MACHINE Willy Hermann Lasch, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Rosedale Knitting 00., Inc., Rosedale, Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 11, 1934, Serial No. 734,567

9 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting machines and also to knitted fabrics. It is concerned more especially with fiat knitting machines of the Cotton type ordinarily used in the manufacture of full fashioned hosiery, as well as with fabrics produced by such machines.

For the determination .of different ornamental effects like tapering high heels, "cradle feet, etc., in ordinary stocking blanks by split knitting, machines of the kind referred to are equipped with auxiliary stop mechanism whereby the endwise movements of a main yarn carrier rod and of a pair of supplemental or reinforcing yarn carrier rods are limited concurrently with formation of straight or stepped overlap junctures between the fabric areas respectively produced from the yarns served to the knitting needles by said main and supplemental yarn carriers.

The production of ringless fabric or hosiery, on the other hand, entails the use of a plurality of main yarn carriers (instead of a single one as ordinarily) which must be actuated in a definite predetermined repeating sequence so that the imperfections in the several main yarns employed are distributed, with resultant production of fabric which is substantially uniform as to texture, and therefore ringless.

My invention has for its chief aim to make possible economic and rapid production of ringless fabric or hosiery on flat machines of the aforementioned type.

This desideratum I attain as hereinafter more fully disclosed through incorporation with the auxiliary yarn carrier control mechanism, of special abutments to coact with stops on the several main yarn carrier rods, and through the further incorporation of detents for positively locking the idled main yarn carrier rods against accidental movement through jarring of the mechanism incident to stoppages of the active main and supplemental yarn carrier rods, thereby preventing fouling of the sinkers and the formation of imperfect split lap sutures by entanglement or feeding of the yarns of the idled carriers to the needles over which the laps are made.

Another object of my invention is to provide in a knitting machine organization such as above outlined, means for momentarily retracting the detents upon completion of each course of the knitting to permit substitution of the main yarn carrier rods as required for ringless knitting.

Other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be manifest from the detailed description following of the attached drawings,

wherein Fig. I is a skeletonized cross sectional view of a typical full fashioned stocking knitting machine conveniently embodying the present im- 5 provements.

Fig. II is a fragmentary front elevation of the machine showing the auxiliary yarn control mechanism with the detents for the main yarn carrier rods, and the means for momentarily re- 10 tracting the detents incident to selection between said main yarn carrier rods, certain parts having been broken away for exposure of others in the rear.

Fig. III is a fragmentary view corresponding 15 to Fig. II and showing how the detents are retracted.

Fig. IV is a diagrammatic view showing the action of the yarn carrier rods incident to the knitting of a ringless cradle foot stocking blank 2 in accordance with my invention Fig. V is a fragmentary view showing the foot ofthe stocking formed from the blank; and

Fig. VI is a diagrammatic view showing the texture of the knitted fabric within the area bounded by the dotted rectangle VI in Fig. V.

With more detailed reference first more particularly to Figs. I-IV of these illustrations, the yarn fingers l, 2 and 3 are employed to individually feed different main yarns to the needles N of the machine; while the yarn fingers 4 and 5 are employed to feed the supplemental or reinforcing yarns, said fingers being respectively se-' cured to the yarn carrier rods la, 20, 3a and 5a, 6a, which are supported, as ordinarily, for longitudinal sliding movement by the framework of the machine. The sinkers which cooperate in the well known manner with the needles N are shown at S in Fig. I and the takeup for the stocking blank B which is being knitted at T.

The means for selecting between the main yarn carriers I, 2 and 3 for the purpose of ringless knitting, is generally designated by the numeral 6 in Fig. IV, and illustrated as comprising a friction box I which is mounted on the slur cook bar 8 of the machine. Extending rearwardly from the friction box 1 is a pair of arms 9 supporting a fulcrum pin [0 for a series of fingers ll, 12 and I3 which are adapted to engage notched lugs lb, 21) and 3b on the main yarn car rier rods la, 2a and 3a. The fingers ll-l3 are actuated by means of a rotary cam drum I4 which is held between the arms 9 on the friction box 1 and whichis slidingly mounted on a shaft 15 extending longitudinally of the machine. 'lhecamdrum l4ispreventedfromindependent rotation on the shaft II by virtue of v a sliding key connection engaging a longitudinal groove or slot l4 in said shaft. By suitable 6 means (not illustrated) the shaft II is intermittently rotated so that the circumferential rises onthecam i4 are successivelybrought intoposition to operate the fingers ii-il sequentially as required for ringless knitting.

The auxiliary carrier rod machanism is comprehensively indicated at H in Pig. IV, the same including in this instance a pair of follower sleeves l4 and II which respectively engage right and left hand threads of a screw spindle 24 which issuitably journalled in bearings (not shown) on the machine frame, and intermittently rotated under the governance of the pattern chain of the machine or otherwise, byracking means such as ordinarily provided in mechmm of this sort. Supported by forwardlyreaching extremities Ila and Ila of the follower sleeves are abutment pins 2|, 22, 22 and 24, 24, 24. The abutment pins 2i and 24 are adapted to cooperate with spaced screw stops 21c and 240 on the main yarn carrier rod in, the abutment pins 22 and 24 with spaced screw stops 24c and 400 on the main yarn carrier rod 21:; and'the abutment pins 24 and 24 with spaced screw stops lie and 22c on the main carrier rod an; said stops being adjustable in upstanding lugs on the respective carrier rods. The follower sleeves l4 and I! also carry abutment pins 44 and 44 for cooperation with screw stops 24c and 41c respectively adjustable in upstandsleeves (not illustrated). on the spindles of the usual narrowing heads at opposite ends of the machine, the last mentioned abutments being conventionally shown at 44 and 44 in Fig. IV.

In order to positively hold the main yarn carrier rods Ia, 2a .and 4a against movement when pairs of them are idled during the activity of the third one as successive courses of the stock ing blank B are being knit, there are provided on the sleeves l4 and II in accordance with the present invention, six auxiliary, detents in the formof pins 40, 4|, 42 and 44, 44, 44. These detents, 4|, 42 and 44, 44, 44 are vertically slidable in the extremities Ila, lid of the follower sleeves l4 and I4 and urged-downward by springs 46 individually associated with them, see Fig. 111. The lower ends of the detents 40, 4|, 42 and 44, 44,44 are oppositely chamfered or beveled to engage in correspondingly disposed andsimilarly configured notches." in the upstanding lugs 44, 44; IL-II; and I2, 53 of the main yarn carrierrods' la, 24: and in. At their upper .41 and 44 are downwardly, curved arms ti and .42 which are provided at their ends with rollers 48 and 44 that bear'upon a plate 65. As shown in Figs. I and II, this plate 44 is supported crosswise between a pair of spaced arms 44 and 4! ing lugs on the supplemental yarn carrier rods 4a, In to limit the. inward movements'of thev ends, the detents 40,-, 42 and u, u, u are sleeves l4 and it. Also secured tothe axis pins reaching fofivardly mm a rock shaft which journalled in spaced bearing collars 44 on-the fixed guide rod 14 for the followers l4, II. An-

otherarmllsecuredtotherockshaftflisconnected,bymeansofaverticallinkl2,withan arm 14 fulcrumed at "to a bracketon oneof the longitudinals ll of the machine framework. The arm I4, it will be noted, is subiect to a tension spring 14 so that a roller l'l thereon is yieldingly maintained in running contact with aspecialrotarycam Itonthemaincamshaft ll of the machine.

The operation of the machine is as follows: Let it be assumed that the machine is knitting the frontal foot portion, for example, the cradle foot stocking blank B, and that the yarn feed fingers I, 4 and B have just completed a movement toward the left as shown in Figs. II and IV. At this instant, the cam drum l4 of the mechanism 4 is racked to eifect the withdrawal of the finger H from the notched projection lb of the main yarn carrier rod la, and to lower the finger it into the notched projection 41: of the main yarn carrier rod in. Also at this instant, the special cam 14 on the main cam shaft 14 actuates the roller arm 14, which, through the link I 12, the arm H and the plate 44, causes lifting of the curved arms 4| and 42 to simultaneously withdraw the detents 44, 4|, 42 and 44, 44, 44 after the manner shown in Fig. III. Upon subsequent initiation of the movement of the friction box I of the mechanism 4 to the right in Figs. 11 and IV, the yarn carrier rods 4a, 4a and 5a are 'carried along so that the fingers 4, 4 and 4 lay their yarns crosswise of the needles N in readiness to be knit by them. Immediately upon initiation of this rightward" movement of the carrier rods Ia, 4a and 5a, the high point of the cam 18 on the main cam shaft 18 of the machine passes beyond the roller 11 with the result that the detents 44, 4|, 42 and 44, 44, 44 are released and instantly depressed by their springs 44, to lock the main yarn carrier rods 2:: and 44 1 follower sleeve I 4. Concurrently with the movement of the main yarn carrier rod in to the right as just explained, the incline 40 of its lug I2 automatically lifts the detent 42 in the follower sleeve it, until at the completion of the movement, said detent drops into the notch 41 of said lug. .In the knitting of the next course of the fabric, the yarn carrier rod 2a is moved to the left together with the supplemental yarn carrier rods 4a and in. On the third course the main yarn carrier rod la is moved to the right (:on-

rods 4a and la and so on. By successive repetitions of this cycle with incidental rotation of the screw spindle 20 of the mechanism H, the distance between the follower sleeves is progressively widened and the movement of the main carrier rods la, 2a and 3a correspondingly decreased, while that of the supplemental yarn 'carrier rods 4a and la is compensatively increased. 1 I I The foregoing procedure results in the split knit cradle foot stocking blank B wherein the foot sole currently with the supplemental yarn carrier areas F and F formed from the supplemental yarns fed by the fingers 4 and 5 respectively are joined with instep portion I formed from the main yarns fed by the fingers I, 2 and 3 by split overlap sutures O and O which are partly straight and partly stepped. In Fig. V which shows the foot of the stocking made from the blank B, and in Fig. VI which shows the texture of the fabric at the region of one of the split sutures, the corresponding parts are identified with the same reference numerals previously employed. For further clarification in Fig. VI, the three main yarns employed in the knitting are indicated by the characters Y Y and Y and the supplemental yarn by the character Y Furthermore in Fig. VI, the long skip selvage floats between the ends of courses knit with the respective main yarns Y Y and Y are indicated at H, and the usual selvage floats between adjacent courses knit with the supplemental yarn Y are indicated at 82.

Through provision of the automatically actuated detents 40, 4|, 42 and 43, H, 45 it will be seen that the idled pairs of the main yarn carrier rods are positively held against being displaced through jarring of the follower sleeves I 8 and I9 incident to stoppage of the active yarn carrier rods, and thereby prevented from fouling the sinkers or from laying their yarns across the needles.

Thus, with a fiat machine modified in accordance with my invention, it is possible to successfully produce ringless split-knit fabrics or stockings in which the sutures are absolutely regular and as sharply defined as shown in Fig. VI.

Many varieties of ornamentation other than those herein mentioned and shown may be determined by prescribed actuation of the auxiliary control mechanism I! in a manner well known to skilled knitters.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A fiat knitting machine for producing split ringless fabric, comprising in combination, a plurality of carrier rods with means for selecting them successively for actuation in a predetermined repeating sequence to feed as many different main yarns to the needles of the machine; a carrier rod for independently feeding a supplemental yarn; and mechanism for controlling variant movement of the supplemental yarn carrier rod, said mechanism including abutments for concurrently limiting the movement of the main yarn carrier rods compensatively, with determination of split overlap sutures between the fabric areas respectively knit from the main and supplemental yarns; and means for positively locking the idled main yarn carrier rods against accidental movement.

2. A fiat knitting machine for producing ornamented split ringless fabric, comprising in combination, a plurality of carrier rods with means for selecting them successively for actuation in a predetermined repeating sequence to feed as many different main yarns to the needles of the machine; a carrier rod for independently feeding a supplemental yarn; and mechanism for controlling variant movement of the supplemental yarn carrier rod to produce an ornamental area in the fabric, said mechanism including abutments for concurrently limiting the movement of the main yarn carrier rods compensatively with determination of stepped split overlap sutures between the fabric areas respectively knit from the main and the supplemental yarns; and means for positively locking the idled main yarn carrier rods against accidental movement.

3. A fiat knitting machine for producing ornamented split ringless fabric, comprising in combination, a plurality of main yarn carrier rods with means for selecting them successively for actuation in a predetermined repeating sequence to feed as many different main yarns to the needles of the machine; a carrier rod for independently feeeding a supplemental yarn; and yarn carn'er control mechanism including-a pair of relatively shiftable elements, abutments on said elements to limit the movement of the supplemental yarn carrier rod for the formation of ornamental areas in the fabric, other abutments on said relatively shiftable elements for concurrently limiting the movement of the main yarn carrier rods compensatively to determine split overlap sutures between the fabric areas respectively knit with said main and supplemental yarns, and means also on said elements for positively locking the idled main yarn carriers against accidental movement.

4. A flat knitting machine in accordance with claim 3, wherein the locking means are in the form of detents to engage notches in the idled main yarn carrier rods, and wherein means is provided for retracting the detents momentarily at the completion of each knitted course to release a substitute main yarn carrier in readiness for actuation. I

5. A flat knitting machine in accordance with claim 3, wherein the relatively shiitable elements are provided with detents to positively lock the idled main yarn carrier rods against accidental movement, and wherein means is provided for retracting the detents momentarily for release of a substitute main yarn carrier for actuation at the completion of each knitted course, the latter means including a rotary cam and interposed connections between the rotary cam and the detents.

6. A flat knitting machine in accordance with claim 3. wherein the relatively shiftable elements of the control mechanism are provided with spring pressed detents to lock the idled main yarn carrier rods against accidental movement; and wherein means is provided for retracting the detents momentarily for releasing a substitute main yarn carrier at the completion of each course of the knitting, including fingers for retracting the detents, a roller arm for rocking the fingers, a pivotally supported plate engaged by rollers on arms secured to the axes of the flngers, and means for swinging the plate.

7. A machine for producing split cradle foot ringless full-fashioned stockings, comprising in combination, a plurality of main yarn carrier rods with means for selecting them successively for actuation in a predetermined repeating sequence to feed as many different main yarns to the needles of the machine; a pair of carrier rods for independently feeding supplemental yarns to form reinforced sole areas along opposite sides of the foot portions of the stockings; end abutments for the supplemental yarn carrier rods; mechanism for controlling variant inward movement of the supplemental yarn carrier rods to pro duce the cradle effect; means embodied in the mechanism aforesaid for concurrently limiting the movement of the main yarn carrier rods in opposite directions compensatively to determine split stepped overlap sutures between the fabric areas respectively knit with the main and the supplemental yarns; and means also embodied in said mechanism to positively lock the idled main yarn carriers against accidental movement.

8. A machine for producing split cradle foot ringless full fashioned stockings, comprising in combination, a plurality of main yarn carrier rods with means for selecting them successively for actuation in a predetermined repeating sequence to feed as many diflerent main yarns to the needles of the machine; a pair of carrierrods for independently feeding supplemental yarns to form reinforced sole'areasalong opposite sides of the foot portion of the stockings; and'stops for the supplemental yarn carrier rods; yarn carrier control mechanism including a pair of intermittently actuated relatively shiftable elements,

abutments on said elements to limit the inward movement of the sole yarn carrier rods, and other abutments also on said elements for concurrently limiting the'movement of the main yarn carrier rods compensatively in opposite directions to determine split stepped overlap sutures between the fabric areas respectively knit with said main and sole yarns; and means to positively lock the idled knitting, including fingers tor retracting the de-' tents, a roller arm for rocking the fingers, a pivotally supported plate engaged by the rollers on arms secured to the axes of the fingers, and means for swinging the plate; and wherein the roller arm actuating plate is operated through connec- Y tions with a rotary cam on the main cam shaft of the machine.

WILLY LASCH. g0 

